Maidhood 201
Vive La France!
By Bobbi Swan
While maids in England were being kept as a lower class of servant and wearing long sleeved and skirted uniforms with big bibbed and practical aprons in Victorian times, things were different across the channel in France. English mistresses of the house were determined to keep their husbands and sons away from the ‘knickers’ of the help and hide any sexual attraction they might have. Arms, legs and bosoms were amply covered and their hair kept up in buns and under large mob caps.
They were kept downstairs and out of sight most all the time and with endless chores to keep them occupied and most of these quite menial in nature.
Not so with the amorous French where the Lord of the house had a better reign on things in the household. The atmosphere was more "ooh, la, la" and "cherchez la femme". Lovely lasses were carefully selected as much for ‘parlour’ duty as for kitchen chores. The feather duster became the household tool of choice more frequently than the pail and scrubbing brush. Great pride would be shown by the ‘gentleman’ of the house in his selection of maid servant and who knows how many French women were happy to see their husbands ‘satisfied’ with a quick tumble in the sheets with these beauties. To them it was much better than having a Mistress to contend and compete with. Besides, they would be free to their own pursuits in a gay and happy world of feminine frills and luxurious garments. A dalliance was not beyond their reach either.
Thus the skirts became shorter and shorter, all the best to display those gorgeous legs encased in sheer and seamed hosiery. Lace and frills abounded the hems and the bodices were lowered to expose delicious breasts and cleavage. Sleeves were similarly shortened and adorned with still more lace with shoulders puffed like mutton chops to enhance the femininity of the maid. Volumnious petticoats flared the skirts to an extent that often the dresses appeared to fly straight out from the waist.
The lovely slim waist was accentuated by tying on a delicate lace apron with an immense butterfly bow over the derriere. Some might even be ‘bibbed’ with lacy straps over the shoulders and crossed in back to embellish the ample pectoral area of this buxom servant. Still more featured lace pinafores for refined femininity Caps were created with lace and bows to enhance exquisite hair styles and enrich the use of extensive makeup for these beauties.
The French maid was ‘born’ and how she skittered and flitted about the parlour and bedroom in her very high heeled shoes. A true coquette and as sexy, tantalizing and seductive as possible.
While the basic costume was black with exaggerated white lace trim, frills and flourishes other colors blossomed in not only the homes but in the restaurants, theater and evening spots. Pretty pink ensembles bedecked a special few for even more femininity with matching petticoats to billow the skirt and amplify the shape of the figure with the tiny waist nipped in by the apron.
Lovely light blues were introduced, though more often in a fuller dress with more modesty for daytime service. The aprons fuller and the lace of the collar and cuffs larger in setting a picture of more domesticity than sexual allure. Caps were similarly designed for a coif more in keeping with a maid’s duties for general housecleaning in the manor. Perhaps more matronly, these were a design of the happily married wife wishing to provide practical service but still with the air of beauty and style in the home. It would give the visitor to the household the aura of taste and charm and blend with her decor.
The use of striking red uniforms were not utilized as frequently, but did appear. These seemed more destined for the Americas were they are often seen today. Perhaps these did not appeal to the French connoisseur as brasher and not to their sensitive amorous predilections that savored so fully on the pastel shades.
French maid uniforms appeared extensively in the ‘roaring twenties’ in the U.S. with the flappers and were typically the hat check and cigarette girls of the night clubs and speakeasies. Legs had to be shown and bosoms exposed and bulging with the low cut necklines. It was a period of sexual excitement and freedom to kick up heels, very high ones, play and carouse. The costume became ingrained in culture as an object of sex and jollity and lives to this day.
It’s the uniform of choice for many crossdressers and certainly was one of the first outfits I ever bought and still cherish. The French maid uniform is a symbol of submissive femininity and a desire to serve many a Mistress or Master. It embellishes the Sissy Maid as a must costume and is accepted in a variety of colors to please the eye.
The modern true sissy maid can never have enough of these and boutiques around the world carry them in many styles and materials today. Latex, PVC as well as silks and satins abound in all colors and styles for fetish and fantasy wear. They seem to survive forever and surely will.
But few of these have any practical value and rarely serve to be trained in for true maid service. Feather dusters do not make a kitchen clean and tidy, nor do they lend themselves to a sparkling bathroom and immaculate toilet.
Best you savor them now in this course of maidhood for future curricula will encompass more practical aspects of maidhood. The servant and service must better typify the true maid and be dressed appropriately for duty.
Be prepared!!!
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Or visit her webpage:
Bobbi Swan’s Nest
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